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Dealing With Tech Support - The way to get Help IF YOU ARE Stumped
For the purposes of the article, Tech Support is the service provided by a company once you contact them in regards to a problem with among its products. Although my focus, needless to say, is computers, the info discussed can connect with almost any product or service, from defective televisions and appliances, to magazine subscriptions and cable companies.

Why does the existing state of tech support so often leave something to be desired? Answering this question won't really change anything, nonetheless it might make you feel slightly better if you understand the dynamic involved. The one-word answer is: Money.

Providing tech support costs money. You may not have noticed, but the economy is having some difficulties at this time, making most companies a lot more parsimonious with their resources. Every time companies try to save money by reducing the amount, or the quality of tech support, it sucks a bit more. "But wait!" I hear you cry. "Does it not ultimately cost a company MORE money to lose a customer through poor tech support?"

Maybe it does, and maybe it doesn't. Most of these companies use complex formulas to find out how many clients they actually lose to poor tech support, how much that tech support costs to supply, and how many clients could possibly be acquired if exactly the same money is applied to the advertising budget. If the equation tips even one penny towards advertising, you understand how the company will probably proceed. get more info ought to be noted that lots of companies don't take a long-term viewpoint, often sacrificing long-term gains for short-term ones, because they are responsible to shareholders today, and their jobs depend on immediate results, not longer term ones.

How do a few of the different computer companies try the Tech Support derby? According to surveys conducted by Consumer Reports, Forrester Research, and LAPTOP Magazine, Apple has the best tech support, being the only company with decent tech support and moderately happy customers. The worst offenders were Dell and HP, with another guys falling in between, but closer to the horrible end of the scale.

So How Do I Get Help?

What do you do if your personal computer (or other product) is defective, or broken, or misbehaving? How can you proceed? Before I go any further, I would like to acknowledge my primary information source. Although I've researched a number of sources and combined that knowledge with some hard-earned life experience [I'm considering you, Dell] probably the most useful source of information for this column is a great website run under the auspices of Consumer Reports called Consumerist.com. It is a fantastic consumer advocacy website. I wish I possibly could claim a number of these ideas as my very own, but if it's really clever, it probably originated from them. I don't believe they'd mind me passing these details on, since we share the mission to cultivate an informed and empowered couple of consumers.

The first thing you want to do is exhaust normal channels. This means giving the client service mechanisms set up an opportunity to solve your problem before you use the big guns. You do not need a sledgehammer to swat a fly.

Below are a few basic things to remember before you even get started:

A) Keep track of everything. Always keep all paperwork, warranty papers, and receipts from a significant purchase. You have to know where and when something was purchased, and also prove it. When you're dealing with tech support, take down notes, and keep track of precisely what happens. Make note of who you called, when, who you spoke to, what they said, and everything you said. You need to know what has happened, and also recount it if necessary.

B) If possible, use the proper terminology. Nobody expects one to be a specialist, but whenever possible, if you know the right terms, then by all means utilize them. This tip originates from among my guys. It could save lots of time and aggravation on both ends if you can accurately describe your problem and what you want. If somebody says that their hard disk drive isn't working when they mean their DVD drive, you will see a few minutes of chasing your personal tail until both parties can get on the same page.

C) I probably must have put that one first, but I can't emphasize it enough. Be civil, nay, even friendly. Anger, sarcasm, profanity, personal attacks, raised voices, etc. will avail you nothing. It will probably make the situation worse. You will almost certainly encounter people and situations that may test your capacity for not erupting and spewing molten lava. Blowing your top may make you feel just a little better for a few seconds, but it is not worth it. The person on another end, whether they come in Austin, Texas, or Mumbai, India, is really a human being attempting to perform a difficult and thankless job, usually with little training, poor pay and contradictory or non-existent support from their own management. You want them on your side, not as adversaries.

So, when you call, you are going to be cool and calm and keep an eye on everything that happens. If you don't get satisfaction from the first tech support representative you talk with, ask to speak to a supervisor. That is called escalating the issue.

If the supervisor can't or won't help you, thank them, hang up the phone, and start all over. Just like a Lotto Quick Pick, sometimes everything boils down to luck. If you call again and obtain a different person, you can find luckier.

This step will not be fun and it might be time-consuming. You may hear exactly the same Muzak song over and over. Rather than stewing is likely to juices just like a tough little bit of meat in a crockpot, grab a magazine or perhaps a book, keep fully hydrated, bring a snack, and do not lose your cool.

Say Hello to My Little Fren'...the EECB

If your try to achieve satisfaction through regular customer support channels isn't successful, it is time to break out the big guns; the method of last resort: the EECB. Although I have already been doing a variation on this technique for years, I credit Consumerist.com with naming the technique, improving it, and codifying it.

EECB means Executive Email Carpet Bomb. The idea here is getting your story out to a lot of the executives at the business in question. When they all obtain the complaint letter, and know that everybody else got the letter aswell, it can often generate the desired results.

THE FIRST STEP: Write an extremely good complaint letter. It should be clear, concise, polite and professional. Inform them just what it is you want. Frame the issue in a manner that shows how it'll affect the company's bottom line. Make sure to spellcheck your letter also to include contact information.

Remember, state the reality, and how you would like the problem resolved. Provide copies of most paperwork, serial numbers, receipts, etc.

STEP TWO: Determine the corporate email address format. It is possible to look on the organization website, or use Google to find press releases. Consider the email address of the general public Relations contact. Could it be [email protected]? [email protected]? Figure it out and write it down.

STEP THREE: Create a list of the company's top executives. This information is often available on the company's website. Search for "corporate officers" or "corporate governance" or something like that. Also you can go to Google Finance and look under "management" for a partial list.

There are several websites that have already done a number of the leg work for you. At http://www.emailnamefinder.com, you can enter an organization name, and if it is in their database, they'll tell you the organization email format, and the names of a few of the corporate officers. Consumerist.com also has a list that is a terrific resource with advice for writing your letters as well as email addresses and formats. You can also search at that website to start to see the information for specific companies, and if there have been any successful EECB's already launched at that company.

STEP FOUR: Combine the format from Step 2 2 with the names in Step three 3 to make an email list.

STEP FIVE: Send your complaint letter to the email list from Step 4 4.

STEP SIX: Sit back and wait for a reply.

Although it doesn't always work, the EECB can be hugely effective in resolving conditions that may otherwise seem insurmountable.

Larry Spinak is really a professional computer consultant and tutor in LA, CA. He started his own firm in 1999, called CompuNerds [http://www.compunerdsla.com/index.html].

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